Brought together in one volume and edited by historian Douglas Brinkley, "The Reagan Diaries" provides a striking insight into one of this nation's most important presidencies and sheds new light on the character of a true American leader.

    Kennedy. His meteoric rise from promise to power has stunned even the cynics and inspired a legion of devout followers.For anyone who wants to know more about the man, David Mendell's Obama is essential reading. Mendell, who covered Obama for the Chicago Tribune, had far-reaching access to the Chicago politician as Obama climbed the ladder to the White House, the details of which he shares in this compelling biography. Positioning Obama as the savior of a fumbling Democratic party, Mendell reveals how Obama conquered Illinois politics and paved the way brick by brick for a galvanizing, historic presidential run.With a new afterword by the author, which includes a fresh perspective on Barack Obama following his two historic terms as the first African-American president, and with exclusive interviews with family members and top advisers, and details on Obama's voting record, David Mendell offers a complete, complex, and revealing portrait. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in American politics in general and President Barack Obama in particular.

    Eisenhower, full of fascinating details and anecdotes, which places particular emphasis on his brilliant generalship and leadership in World War Two, and provides, with the advantage of hindsight, a far more acute analysis of his character and personality than any that has previously been available, reaching the conclusion that he was perhaps America's greatest general and one of America's best presidents, a man who won the war and thereafter kept the peace.Ike starts with the story of D–Day, the most critical moment in America's history. It was Hitler's last chance to win the war –– he had the means to destroy the troops on the beaches, but he failed to react quickly enough. The one man who would have reacted quickly and decisively had he been on the spot, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was home on leave and didn't arrive back at his headquarters until it was too late. It was Ike's plan, Ike's decision, Ike's responsibility. He alone, among all the Allied generals, could win or lose the war in one day, and knew it.But of course there is more to this book than military history. It is a full biography of a remarkable man, ambitious, a late starter, a brilliant leader of men and perhaps the only American general who could command such a difficult coalition, and win the respect of not only his own soldiers, but also those of Great Britain and France, and lead them to a triumphant victory.It is also the story of a remarkable family. Ike grew up in Abilene, Kansas, and the Eisenhowers were Mennonites, who, like the Amish, were deeply committed pacifists, so it is ironic that he went to West Point and became a general, to his mother's horror. It is as well the portrait of a tumultuous and often difficult marriage, for Mamie was every bit as stubborn and forceful as her husband, and it was by no means the sunny, happy marriage that Republican publicists presented to the public when Ike made his first moves towards the presidency.Indeed, behind Ike's big grin and the easy–going, affable personality he liked to project was a very different man, fiercely ambitious, hot–tempered, shrewd, and tightly wound. He was a perfectionist for whom duty always came first, and a man of immense ability. In 1941 he was a soldier who was still an unknown and recently promoted colonel, and just two years later he was a four–star general who had commanded the biggest and most successful amphibious operation in history –– TORCH, the Anglo–American invasion of North Africa. He commanded respect and was dealt as an equal with such world figures as President Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Charles De Gaulle.

    Conrad Black, whose epic biography of FDR was widely acclaimed as a masterpiece, now separates the good in Nixon—his foreign initiatives, some of his domestic policies, and his firm political hand—from the sinister, in a book likely to generate enormous attention and controversy. Black believes the hounding of Nixon from office was partly political retribution from a lifetime's worth of enemies and Nixon's misplaced loyalty to unworthy subordinates, and not clearly the consequence of crimes in which he participated. Conrad Black's own recent legal travails, though hardly comparable, have undoubtedly given him an unusual insight into the pressures faced by Nixon in his last two years as president and the first few years of his retirement.

    In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America’s greatest presidents.This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details. We see how Roosevelt’s restless energy, fierce intellect, personal magnetism, and ability to project effortless grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life. Smith recounts FDR’s battles with polio and physical disability, and how these experiences helped forge the resolve that FDR used to surmount the economic turmoil of the Great Depression and the wartime threat of totalitarianism. Here also is FDR’s private life depicted with unprecedented candor and nuance, with close attention paid to the four women who molded his personality and helped to inform his worldview: His mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, formidable yet ever supportive and tender; his wife, Eleanor, whose counsel and affection were instrumental to FDR’s public and individual achievements; Lucy Mercer, the great romantic love of FDR’s life; and Missy LeHand, FDR’s longtime secretary, companion, and confidante, whose adoration of her boss was practically limitless. Smith also tackles head-on and in-depth the numerous failures and miscues of Roosevelt’s public career, including his disastrous attempt to reconstruct the Judiciary; the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans; and Roosevelt’s occasionally self-defeating Executive overreach. Additionally, Smith offers a sensitive and balanced assessment of Roosevelt’s response to the Holocaust, noting its breakthroughs and shortcomings.Summing up Roosevelt’s legacy, Jean Smith declares that FDR, more than any other individual, changed the relationship between the American people and their government. It was Roosevelt who revolutionized the art of campaigning and used the burgeoning mass media to garner public support and allay fears. But more important, Smith gives us the clearest picture yet of how this quintessential Knickerbocker aristocrat, a man who never had to depend on a paycheck, became the common man’s president. The result is a powerful account that adds fresh perspectives and draws profound conclusions about a man whose story is widely known but far less well understood. Written for the general reader and scholars alike, FDR is a stunning biography in every way worthy of its subject.From the Hardcover edition.

    To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends." An American president must ultimately take responsibility for the direction of the country, an ideal succinctly expressed by Harry S. Truman, who told his fellow citizens that "the buck stops here." Embracing that sense of responsibility may have been easier for some presidents--Calvin Coolidge and William Jefferson Clinton, for instance, both held the office during economic booms--than for others, who served during more trying times. But even presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, who occupied the White House at a time of war, nonetheless resolutely took up the gauntlet of protecting and improving the social and economic welfare of the American people. Of course, hard times test the mettle of every president, however golden the age in which he serves, because the problems of the country--and the world--are often left at the president's feet. And though he can rely on the counsel of his Cabinet as well as the Congress and Senate, the burden of making each decision, not to mention accepting the consequences, rests squarely on his shoulders alone. As John F. Kennedy remarked, "No easy problem ever comes to the President of the United States. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them." And what is lifelike after a president's term ends? After the inaugural speeches, State of the Union addresses, summits and conferences, bills passed or vetoed, a president leaves office feeling an enormous sense of relief. But, of course, this isn't the only emotion these men deal with in retrospect. Frequently, with more time to contemplate the past, regret also becomes a companion for some ex-presidents. In his memoirs, Lyndon B. Johnson confided, "I regretted more than anyone could possibly know that I was leaving the White House without having achieved a just, an honorable, and a lasting peace in Vietnam." Within the pages of The American President: A Complete History--perhaps the most authoritative and readable single-volume reference work of its kind--historian Kathryn Moore presents a riveting narrative of each president's personal and political experiences in and out of office, along with illuminating facts and statistics about each administration, fascinating timelines of national and world events, astonishing trivia, and much more besides. These details are here woven together to present a complex and nuanced portrait of the American presidency, from the nation's infancy to today.

    Author Hugh Howard weaves together personal, presidential, and architectural histories to shed light on the way our chief executives lived. Original photography by Roger Straus III brings the houses and furnishings beautifully to life. From Jefferson's Monticello to Reagan's Rancho del Cielo, with fascinating and surprising stops between and beyond, HOUSES OF THE PRESIDENTS presents a fascinating alternative history of the American presidency.

    The entertaining yet informative text is a good conversation starter for discussions on the election process. A note about this process accompanies the story. Full color.

    Presents more than 200 years of the history of life in the White House with hundreds of pictures of past and present first families, children and pets; workers and daily routines; State occasions and public celebrations.

    When Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to integrate Central High School in September 1957, he couldn't know that he was fighting the last great battle of his career...one that would change forever both him and his country. This is the story of how one of America's greatest leaders confronted America's greatest sin. This is the unlikely tale of how Ike became a civil rights president.Ike represents is a revolution in scholarship on Eisenhower and civil rights. Though not uncritical, the book credits his steady personal advance on the issue as well as his accomplishments in the military and as president. Drawing on thousands of primary documents (including newly released material), Ike's Last Battle builds to its climax at Little Rock-one of the most pivotal events of the civil rights movement. Little Rock is at the epicenter, but the book will also look at the cause, and the aftermath.

    Ford stepped into the American presidency during a constitutional crisis that many believed was the country’s worst since the Civil War. Extraordinary Circumstances is a stunning collection of behind-closed-doors images by President Ford’s personal photographer, David Hume Kennerly. Seen here are intimate scenes of the inner workings of the White House; Ford’s family and much-beloved wife Betty; and many of the twentieth-century’s most compelling and elusive figures, including Queen Elizabeth II, Leonid Brezhnev, Emperor Hirohito, Deng Xioping, Anwar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, Richard Nixon, Andy Warhol, and George Harrison. The book follows Gerald Ford from the day President Nixon appointed him as vice president through the tumultuous early crises of his presidency, including his controversial pardon of Nixon, the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, and his wife Betty’s breast cancer, to the end of his presidency after losing to Jimmy Carter. Adding depth and perspective to the photos are excerpts from exclusive interviews with President Ford, President Jimmy Carter, President George H. W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney, Alan Greenspan, and other prominent members of the Ford administration. Extraordinary Circumstances is sponsored and published by the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, the home of the David Hume Kennerly Photographic Archive. It features an introduction by NBC’s Tom Brokaw and an overview of Ford’s life by famed historian Richard Norton Smith.

    Judicious editing and contextual headnotes give students a look at the personalities and ideas that have shaped the institution, as well as insight into significant cases and events that have played pivotal roles in American political history. Based on extensive feedback from users, the third edition includes new selections that feature both historical and recent pieces from FDR s court-packing speech to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case dramatically showing students how presidents chart U.S. history.

    We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

    For decades, Roosevelt's big game hunting books have been among the most often quoted and reprinted of works in that genre. But no illustrated biography of Roosevelt as the consummate hunter, outdoorsman, and arms enthusiast existed until this pioneering work.With insights from acclaimed producer, director, and screenwriter John Milius (Rough Riders, The Wind and the Lion, Red Dawn, Dillinger, Apocalypse Now, et al.), this monumental book captures the adventurous outdoor life of the hunter, rancher, explorer, soldier, statesman, author, conservationist, and wholly visionary 26th President of the United States. As a dedicated conservationist, Roosevelt will forever be a heroic figure to America's outdoorsmen. A combination of sportsman and naturalist, TR was as serious about his hunting as he was about conservation of the world's natural resources.This book's striking illustrations draw on historical images and original documents from various Roosevelt archives—Harvard University, the Library of Congress, Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, and the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Historic Site. Lavish in every way, Theodore Roosevelt: Hunter-Conservationist presents a sweeping view of TR's unique legacy as an international hunter and adventurer, and his unrivaled achievements as history's foremost conservationist.TR's stewardship, sportsmanship, and leadership have set the standard of excellence and responsibility for humankind's wise use of wilderness resources, a matter of particular significance in modern times.

    How did a sickly boy transform himself into one of the country's boldest leaders? You'll get the full story—front page and behind-the-scenes—as only Cheryl Harness can tell it. Through her lively narrative and engaging artwork, readers will see Teddy riding the range in South Dakota, charging up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, climbing the political ladder all the way to the White House, breaking up big business, building the Panama Canal, and big-game hunting in Africa. They will also experience life in America when the telephone, airplane, and automobile were all brand-new, when women, blacks, and laborers were demanding equal rights, and when the cry for expansion stretched the borders from Maine to the Philippines and from Puerto Rico to Alaska. This was an age in which Roosevelt's promise to give every American a "square deal" and to "walk softly and carry a big stick" helped build the country into a world power. With a new adventure on almost every page, readers will find themselves "wowed" by this true story of a larger-than-life American hero, and the country and times in which he lived.National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

    Bush-their personalities, their politics, and their significant contributions.

    Bush touched, from the very early flop on energy policy to the walking fiasco named Alberto Gonzales. Even adding the tragicomedy of Hurricane Katrina doesn’t come close to describing the governmental catastrophe of the Bush administration. The collapse of the Bush presidency is a broadly acknowledged fact. Everyone who’s anyone, from politicians to comedians, has taken shots at this ever-growing target. By any fair assessment, much of the past seven years has been disastrous. The challenge is to understand why.Few analysts have stepped aside, abandoning easy hits and quick gibes, and analyzed the totality of the Bush Administration.  Now, bestselling author Thomas Oliphant does just that.  With his keen, experienced eye, he asks the simplest of questions: “How could some of the smartest, most experienced and politically savvy people in Washington screw up so badly?”After all, this was the team led by a man with an MBA.  They came to Washington with the mission to run the government in an orderly, businesslike manner.  Instead, chaos has ensued.  How did this happen?From domestic policy to international goofs, from soaring energy prices to the health care crisis---Thomas Oliphant tackles it all, closely inspecting the initial projections and promises of Bush and his key senior officials, and the ways in which they lost control of these well-publicized and overconfident plans.  By comparing their rhetoric to their dismal record, Oliphant provides a historic analysis of the Bush administration---showing how a system so seemingly competent and mechanized could fail so miserably, and with such frequency.In the wake of the Republican loss of Congress  and unmet promises for future change, and as the presidential campaign to choose Bush’s successor heats up, Oliphant provides a rigorous examination of what went wrong and what this means for the next administration. Utter Incompetents is at its heart a searching look at the George W. Bush administration, its policies, and the legacy that it will leave behind on January 20, 2009.It is also the substantive backdrop for the next president.

    As a serious-minded religious student, he soon caught the eye of the Ayatollah Khomeini. Upon Khomeini's death, Khamenei was named his successor and became the Grand Ayatollah of Iran. This biography tells his story.

    Nicolay and John Hay in the White House from 1861 to 1865, completed his autobiography in 1907, one of more than one hundred books he wrote. An abridged version was published by his son in 1955 as “Lincoln’s Third Secretary: The Memoirs of William O. Stoddard.”  In this new, edited version, Lincoln’s White House Secretary: The Adventurous Life of William O. Stoddard, Harold Holzer provides an introduction, afterword, and annotations and includes comments by Stoddard’s granddaughter, Eleanor Stoddard. The elegantly written volume gives readers a window into the politics, life, and culture of the mid-nineteenth century. Stoddard’s bracing writing, eye for detail, and ear for conversation bring a novelistic excitement to a story of childhood observations, young friendships, hardscrabble frontier farming, early hints of the slavery crisis, the workings of the Lincoln administration, and the strange course of war and reunion in the southwest. More than a clerk, Stoddard was an adventurous explorer of American life, a farmer, editor, soldier, and politician.Enhanced by seventeen illustrations, this narrative sympathetically draws the reader into the life and times of Lincoln’s third secretary, adding to our understanding of the events and the larger-than-life figures that shaped history.

    Today, the weekly Bible class he teaches at his home church in Plains, Georgia is attended by visitors from around the world, representing a wide range of faiths and denominations. Sunday Mornings in Plains gives you the opportunity to share in this remarkable experience wherever you are. Each volume of this extraordinary audio series draws on an extensive archive of recordings to present a month-long sequence of President Carter's Bible classes. Listening to these live recordings, you'll hear the unscripted interaction and unexpected insights that make his classes so popular, as well as the anecdotes from President Carter's life and observations about world events that he infuses into his lessons. Jimmy Carter has been teaching Sunday school ever since he was a young midshipman in Annapolis; in later years he conducted religious services on submarines on which he served, and even led the occasional class in Washington while he was president. For the last 25 years, President Carter has taught the adult Bible study at his church in Plains, where several hundred visitors join him each Sunday to understand the wisdom of the Bible and apply it to their lives. Leading a Worthy Life presents the four classes President Carter taught in January 1998 on the Book of Ephesians. Describing basic tenets of Christian living that still resonate today, Paul urges us "to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4: 1-3) As he speaks to the theme of reconciliation-with God and with each other-that runs through all four lessons, President Carter connects Paul's message to the concerns of our time, including such relevant issues as fundamentalism and disunity in the church, and shares insights into the practical application of faith in daily life that will challenge and inspire all of us.

    Carpenter wished to commemorate the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. The likable and well-connected Carpenter received President Lincoln's consent during a visit to the White House. "Well, Mr. Carpenter, we will turn you loose in here, " said Lincoln. The painter set up a studio in the state dining room and worked for months in 1864 under a lighted chandelier. It was a marvelous opportunity to observe the president and converse with him. The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: is Carpenter's account of his experience. He watched the daily parade of petitioners who came to Lincoln's office-worried mothers, desperate job-seekers, needy widows and orphans. He heard Lincoln's own account of the decision to abolish slavery by proclamation, heard him recite Shakespeare, and heard him say often, "That reminds me of a story. . . ." He dealt with little Tad, gathered anecdotes from insiders, excerpted published reminiscences from former associates like William H. Herndon. He added his own impressions of the president, noting a deep melancholy underneath the famous humor. This book, originally published in 1866, struck a chord with a public hungering for intimate details about the fallen president. Carpenter's painting, The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the Cabinet, was finished earlier, displayed in the rotunda of the Capitol before Lincoln's second inauguration, and then exhibited on a northern tour. Reproductions hung in many homes, offices, and schoolrooms. Introducing this Bison Books edition is Mark E. Neely Jr., author of The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties. He is John Francis Bannon Professor of History and American Studies at St. Louis University.